Review Summary: Opeth continue their nostalgia trip, this time using less of their influences and incorporating their own feel into the mix.
How seriously are you willing to take the Opeth of the 2010s? The answer to such question would be entirely dependent on your opinion on the Swedish prog rock quintet's previous release, 2011's
Heritage. The trend of a lot of bands hopping on the "hey everybody, we love King Crimson" train has been happening for almost a decade now, but of all the bands who have done it, Opeth's approach has gotten the most decidedly mixed reception of the bunch; some saw the album as getting in touch with their 1970s roots and becoming a better and stronger band for it, others found it retrograde and lacking in creativity. Which is why I report that despite claims to the contrary,
Pale Communion is not a whole lot new. If you enjoyed
Heritage, you'll enjoy it, if not... well, you know the rest. Right from the first track on, it's clear that the band's shredding and jackhammer drumming are long gone and likely never to return, and if you're willing to pitch in and give Opeth 49 minutes of your undivided attention to more of their softer side, you may find something to like.
With this album, we get more or less a continuation of what was found on
Heritage, but with a bit less King Crimson and a bit more how Opeth would interpret the whole 1970s prog rock thing. There are some genuinely creepy moments on the album and also some heavy bits where necessary, but for the most part, it's not a whole lot different from the band's previous record. In fact, right off the bat, with "Eternal Rains Will Come", we get an instant thrust into the dark world of modern day Opeth, with the first two minutes alone being a King Crimson-esque prog jam before the song calms down a little bit with a lush acoustic passage, before getting upbeat again with harmonized vocals and some excellent keyboard work- almost as if Opeth are trying to ready the listener for what they're about to hear. Luckily the momentum doesn't stop from here, with the next track and lead single "Cusp of Eternity" being a dark and at times even anthemic, upbeat prog tune with spooky vocal melodies and some truly rocking guitar riffs. If there's anything specific about the album that makes it so good, it's that the little things that make an Opeth album enjoyable- the sprinklings of acoustic guitars and silky smooth clean vocals, the fade-outs then sudden hammers into prog-rock, the moments where things tone down just to set the mood- they're all there, and they're present on every track, giving each and every track its own individual flavour.
Yet strangely enough, the biggest drawback is that there aren't as many surprises here as there were on
Heritage. Element of surprise has been one thing that has kept Opeth's releases the kind of albums to go back to and listen to again, but sadly there's very little of it here- parts of "Elysian Woes" and "Goblin", while fun to listen to, are blatantly obvious, and despite my earlier praise for "Cusp", it's also probably the most shining example of the band holding back a bit too much when they could be letting loose. At times it feels like the album is trying to recapture what made tracks like "Nepenthe" and "Lines In My Hand" work, which does kind of distract you from the musicianship. Yet ultimately, what lows there are on the album are mostly made up for with the astonishing highs. Tracks like "Moon Above, Sun Below" (those drums, man. Those drums.) and "Faith in Others" are for sure to be instant classics for the fans, and despite the obviousness, "Goblin" features extraordinary guitar work, which blends in almost effortlessly with the amazing keyboards.
In short, as said above, whether you liked
Heritage or not will be the biggest factor your enjoyment of the album. Akerfeldt and his band of goons have given us another album that show them fully embracing their 1970s roots, and even despite how dangerously close the songs sometimes come to ripping said prog rock relics such as King Crimson,
Pale Communion surprisingly works well enough to stand on its own. Exactly whether or not the band will survive taking this direction is dependent on exactly what they do with the sound, but nonetheless, with how well done the album is, if the band continue to make their current sound more their own as they do on this album, they'll probably manage to still sound pretty fresh in a few years time.
